1. Your e-mail "from" sender line should be your brand name or company name and stay consistent. Use your own personal name only if that is your brand name.

2. Send e-mails only when you have something to say that will benefit the reader. No fluff. No filler. You must be relevant. If you can't be, don't send an e-mail until you have something beneficial to say.

3. Start your e-mails with the specific benefit the reader can get from your message. You have no more than three seconds to pass the crucial "what's in it for me?" test.

4. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational, instead of stuffy and corporate.

5. Make a specific offer to the reader and, if possible, include a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.

6. Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.

7. Test your subject lines and offers on small segments of your list before you send the e-mail to your entire list.

8. Include "E-mail this to a friend" service in all your communications for pass along and viral marketing.

9. Tell your recipients to "white list" your e-mail address so your future e-mails don't end up in the spam filter.

10. Remail nonopens again one week later. This works great if your e-mail service can pinpoint this information.

11. Copyrighting of your e-mails and online marketing is your No. 1 key to much higher leads, sales, and profits. So don't entrust it to anyone other than an experienced successful copywriter and the best one you can afford. This is not the time to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Mike Pavlish of Profit Boosters Copywriting has written hundreds of successful e-mail andonline promotions for clients since 1978. Contact him at www.profitboosterscopy.com.

Publication date: 06/26/2006